CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
College of Business
Department of Finance & SCM
Course Syllabus
Course Title: Working Capital Management
Course Number: FIN 466
Section: 01
Term: Winter 2016
Credit: 5 Units
Location and Time: SS109, TTH 3:20p - 5:30p
Instructor: Dr. Michael T. Young
Office Location: Shaw Smyser 403
Telephone and e-mail: (W) 963-2912, youngm@cwu.edu
Office Hours: TTh 1:00 – 3:00, or by appointment
Course Description: This course describes the nature and types of credit, instrument and agencies.
It deals with the management and analysis of consumer and commercial credit and control.
Course Prerequisites: FIN 370.
Course Text, Required and Recommended Materials: Short-Term Financial Management, 4th
Edition, by John T. Zietlow, Matthew Hill and Terry S. Maness, (2014). A notebook computer will
be used during class and during the exams. You MUST make arrangements to have access to a
notebook computer for at least the exams.
Course Objective: The students will learn the intuition underlying and theory and practice of: (1)
Liquidity and its contribution to the firm’s value, (2) The management of working capital (inventory,
accounts receivable, and accounts payable), (3) The management of cash (collections and
disbursements), (4) Common mathematical techniques, and (5) The basics of the money market.
Course Requirements: There will be two comprehensive mid-term exams, and a comprehensive
final. Any material from the text or lecture is considered testable. There will be no makeup exams
for any absence that was not pre-approved. Each mid-term will be worth 30%, the final is worth
40%. Dates for the two mid-terms which appear in the following very tentative schedule are not
written in stone, but will be given after the material has been covered. The student is responsible to
be aware of any changes to the schedule.
Grades will be assigned on the following basis: 90% to 100% = A, 80% to less than 90% = B,
65% to less than 80% = C, 55% to less than 65% = D, less than 55% = F.
Throughout your tenure in the College of Business, you will be required to complete various
assignments using Microsoft Excel. It is incumbent upon you to have or acquire the skills required to
complete these excel-based assignments. If you do not possess the required skills, the College of
Business requires that you purchase Slaying Excel Dragons by Mike Girvin (publisher Holy Macro!
Books). Additional help can be found at excelisfun.com. Advanced tutorial materials are also
accessible on the CWU Wildcat Connection through the Microsoft IT Academy link.
Class Attendance and Academic Honesty: Class attendance is expected and the student is
responsible for all assignments announced during class periods. Any student found cheating will be
assigned a failing grade for the course and may be reported to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
and the Dean of the College of Business for further disciplinary action.
Good study habits are a must for this class! If you apply yourself you should have little or no
problem passing. A rule of thumb is that you should spend 3 hours in study for every hour in lecture.
Allow me to make some suggestions: 1) Read the material BEFORE lecture. 2) Try to do the
homework after reading the material, but before lecture. Any problems or questions can then be
asked about during lecture. 3) Every day after class review the material covered in that day's lecture
as well as the previous day's lecture. 4) If you have some point that you do not understand ASK!
Asking questions does not indicate that you are stupid. It does show me that you have a willingness
to learn. You must understand that I have studied this material for years and at times forget what you
find difficult. Help me out and ask questions.
The use of personal electronic devices during class time is strictly prohibited. Doing anything not
class related on a PED during class time will result in expulsion from class for the first offence and
permanent loss of the device for the second offence.
The use of tobacco products during class time is strictly prohibited.
Tentative Schedule
Date Chapter
Topic
1/5
Introduction to class
1/7
1
The Role of Working Capital
1/12
2
Analysis of the Working Capital Cycle
1/14
3
Cash Holdings
1/19
4
Inventory Management
1/21
5
Accounts Receivable Management
1/26
6
Credit Policy and Collections
1/28 *** EXAM 1 (Chapters 1 – 5) ***
2/2
7
Managing Supplier Financing
2/4
8
The Payment System and Financial
Institution Relationships
2/9
9
Cash Collection Systems
2/11
10
Cash Concentration
2/16
11
Cash Disbursement Systems
2/18 *** EXAM 2 (Chapters 1 – 10)***
2/23
12
Cash Forecasting
2/25
13
Short Term Financial Planning
3/1
14
Short-Term Investing
3/3
15
Short-Term Financing
3/8
16
Managing Multinational Cash Flows
3/10
17
Managing Financial Risk with Derivatives
3/15 *** FINAL (Chapters 1 – 17) *** 2:00 – 4:00
Chapter Problems
Ch1: 1-4
Ch2: 1-4
Ch3: 1-5,8
Ch4: 1-6
Ch5: 1-3
Ch6: 1,3-5
Ch7: 1,2,4,5
Ch8: 1
Ch9: 1-4
Ch10: 1-3,5
Ch11: 1,2
Ch12: 1-5,A:1-3
Ch13: 1,5
Ch14: 1-8
Ch15: 1-5,A:1-4
Ch16:1-5
Ch17:1-7